RECAP IROQUOIS NATIONALS FALL BALL TOURNEY

The Iroquois Nationals Fall Ball Tourney would showcase and highlight the talents of indigenous athletes and to serve as a team selection tool for the World Lacrosse Championships in Denver this summer.

Gewas Schindler, 2014 General Manager said, “The 2013 1st Annual International Iroquois Nationals Fall Ball Tournament was truly a success. We were able to play 47 of our Haudenosaunee and Indigenous athletes that are committed to represent our people this July at the 2014 Men’s World Field Lacrosse Championships. This fall tournament gave us a chance to evaluate our players against a high level of play benefitting our program immensely.”

The numbers in the Iroquois Nationals’ player pool is small to the likes of other Blue Division countries, such as: United States, Canada, and Australia but it is the quality talent of the indigenous athlete which is firmly equitable to any lacrosse athlete in the world.

The 2-day tournament brought nearly fifty Haudenosaunee and Indigenous athletes from all over North America for these tryouts. This tournament is the first time these players have come together all season. Each individual player is vying for an Iroquois Nationals team position. The Iroquois Nationals are proud to play on behalf all indigenous peoples this summer at the WLC in Denver, Colorado, July 10-19th.

At the International Fall Ball Tourney, the Iroquois Nationals played two games with an additional 2 quarters of lacrosse, each quarter of game time represents a different line-up or combination of players on the field. In this type of lacrosse exhibition tournament there are no losers-no winners.

The first game of play was against Team Israel. The game was under the lights. A number of Iroquois Nationals alumni such as; Mike Thompson, Neal Powless, Ace Stout , Boss Bucktooth and several others, came to support and watch from experience lacrosse perspective the set and run-n-gun plays of the team. The game had plenty of lacrosse finesse and teamwork for the Iroquois Nationals and Team Israel. The Thompson boys, Lyle, Myles, Jeremy, and Jerome continued to showcase their smooth and seamless style of pass plays on the offensive end of the field for the Nationals. The official score was 0:0.

The Iroquois Nationals were looking forward to the next game of the tournament, a matchup against NCAA National Championship Team- Syracuse University. This was another game of finesse, teamwork, and special team combinations. For Iroquois Nationals this first quarter of the game played out offensively solid, dropping in 6 consecutive goals, as the Orangemen were also able to score. The next quarter of play – the Iroquois Nationals substituted a new line-up of defensive players; Marsh Abrams and Jesse Jimerson, and offensively Jeff Shattler, Brendan Bomberry, and Ty Thompson worked the entire field, adding another 4 goals. The Syracuse team worked equally up and down the field for 5 goals for this quarter. The second half, the teams working evenly with intensity as the clock served as the bona fide opponent. The Iroquois Nationals using a new squad of players each quarter substituting as many line-ups as time would allow. The face-offs, ball control, defense, and special teams combinations was an objective to these quarters of lacrosse play. The official score Iroquois Nationals 0: Syracuse University 0.

The last game of tournament play brought Sienna College to Cortland, New York. The game was exciting allowing the Iroquois Nationals to provide additional time for all line-ups for this first Fall Ball tournament. The game had plenty of lacrosse teamwork for the Iroquois Nationals and Sienna College. The official score was 0:0.

The exhibition games by Team Israel, Syracuse University, and Sienna College were excitingly fast, the extreme talents of a countless number of players was exhilarating, and at the close of the tourney there were lots of handshakes of camaraderie amongst players and enthusiasts, all setting up the ”must-see” lacrosse for this summer’s WLC competition in Denver , Colorado.

The Iroquois Nationals have more lacrosse action- come to the Bow Hunter Lacrosse Cup this Saturday, October 12th at 8:00pm against the USA Developmental Team at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena in Six Nations.

Next month you can see the Iroquois Nationals versus Team Canada on November 17th at 8:00pm in the Belle Centre in Montreal, Canada and remember you are all invited to the 2015 WILC, September 18-26, 2015, hosted at the Tsha’hon’nonyen’dakhwa’ Arena at the Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee, see 2015wilc.com.

Pull out your lacrosse calendar to pencil-in the “BowHunters” Oct.12th, “IN vs. TC” Nov 17th and “2014WLC” on July 10-19th, see you there.